[HorrorScience] King Kong (1933)

Reviewing films for this section I have realized that, unintentionally, I have ended up watching many that include gorillas in them and that (for better or worse) you will see discussed in the coming weeks.

At one point I thought that perhaps it would be good if I could see again the gorilla movie par excellence and no, I'm not talking about Congo, nor of Planet of the Apes, I'm talking about the eighth wonder of the world: king kong.

Unlike many of the films I have discussed in this section, most of you will know the story of king kong, but in case anyone is confused, let's give a brief review of what we will find in the first minutes of the film.

Carl Denham, a film director especially known for his reckless attitude when filming scenes in hostile environments, finds himself in trouble when, a few hours before leaving for an unknown location to shoot his next film, he cannot find any actress willing to play the lead role due to her bad reputation.

But Carl is a man who never gives up and decides to tour New York in the middle of the night looking for the star of his next movie, without really knowing how or where. Fortunately he sees a girl, Ann Darrow, trying to steal from a store, and after saving her from the salesman's wrath, Carl offers her the job taking advantage of the girl's poor situation and the moral debt she owes him.

The ship, loaded with smoke bombs and with more personnel than is normally found on vessels of that size, leaves the next morning for an unknown point in the sea, since not even the captain of the ship or his trusted man, Jack, know where Denham is taking them, as he follows a strange map given to him by an acquaintance of his.

Apparently the destination of such a mysterious trip is Skull Island, a small and inhospitable island that does not appear on maps and is located in an area of ​​difficult access that has made it remain hidden from ships sailing through nearby waters. Neither the captain nor the crew trust Denham very much, but the evidence convinces them after passing a fog bank and seeing what a strange island exists.

During the voyage, actress Ann Darrow begins to socialize with the crew and walk around the ship, which seems to bother Jack, the typical tough sailor, who believes that the women on board are a problem. However, the tough guy image does not deceive Ann, who knows that Jack cares about her, leading to to the typical express romance that is added in movies to appeal to an older audience (a situation that Carl Denham himself comments on in one of the first scenes of the film).

Once on the island, our protagonists witness a ritual performed by the island's natives to their god, whom they call Kong. Unfortunately, Denham's impetus makes the meeting between both parties very fortuitous, ruining the ritual, in which they were going to offer a woman to Kong. After that first meeting, our protagonists are forced to return to the ship for safety reasons, but during the night, the natives manage to kidnap Ann, because is the one chosen to be sacrificed that same night.

Fortunately for the shooting star, the crew notices her absence and returns to the island only to watch as a giant ape appears to take Ann away, while the natives play drums.

Without delay, his traveling companions enter a jungle that seems to come from another time, since the animals that live there are gigantic and prehistoric, with the danger that this entails.

Fortunately, Kong's trail is easy to follow and they soon encounter him, in a scene in which most of the sailors are eliminated by the giant gorilla. To make the situation a little more difficult, a carnivorous dinosaur has found Ann and intends to include her in its diet, which will cause the typical fight between the ape and the saurian that we have all seen at some point.

While Jack is risking his life for his beloved, Denham returns to the ship to return with all the weapons available and with a very clear idea: to take Kong to the city to earn millions, an idea that we will see carried out in the final part of the film.

king kong is a film that impressed many in its day due to the combination of romance, adventure and a giant monster, giving RKO Pictures one of its greatest cinematic successes. It is not surprising that this film was the first to be released in the two largest movie theaters in New York and that it was re-released several times during the 1940s and 1950s, increasing its impact and profits.

If we analyze the film we will see that it is quite simple from beginning to end and that it is sustained by the fact that it is entertaining and its protagonist, Carl Denham, has enough charisma to make you take his crazy ideas seriously. I don't see that simplicity as a bad thing, in fact there are many examples of how films that could be very entertaining end up being boring because they are excessively long (perhaps the best example is Peter Jackson's version of this film).

In the field of special effects, it is clear that Stop-Motion was a good decision, although in some scenes the trembling and inaccuracy of the movements of some monsters that are presented to us are noticeable, in most of the film the special effects are very commendable, especially when Stop-Motion is combined with rear projection, which gives us the feeling that the humans and the giant monsters are really in the same place.

Despite its small flaws, king kong It is a highly recommended film and it is also one of those that laid foundations that were repeated in dozens of subsequent films during the following decades, where it was rare to find an adventure film that did not include some giant monster. Not to mention that the scene of Kong against Tyrannosaurus was the seed from which dozens of films starring monsters fighting each other emerged, such as those starring godzilla, which coincidentally also had a confrontation with Kong, but that is another story that I will tell you in a few weeks.

One way or another king kong It changed cinema and that is why I think it is ideal to take a look at it despite its undeniable age (with everything that entails). It is also one of the many films that were colored, so that it can be appreciated by people who are allergic to black and white films (although it should be said that in that version the special effects look less noticeable in some scenes).

Curiosities about this movie.

• In one of the film's scenes, Kong ripped off Ann's dress, this scene was considered “inappropriate” and was removed in some versions of the film when it was re-released during the 1940s and 1950s.
• As happened with The Incredible Shrinking Man, king kong was included in the National Film Registry, where old films that have been considered “culturally and historically significant” are preserved.
• Throughout the entire film, no one calls the gigantic gorilla King Kong, which is referred to simply as Kong.
• The initial title of the film was The eighth wonder of the world, but was changed by king kong leaving the previous title as subtitle.
• Many scenes were filmed that were not included in the film for various reasons, among them there are several with crabs, spiders, Styracosaurus and Kong fighting Triceratops.